Buying Render Credits
How credit pricing works, how to buy, and when your balance updates.
What a credit buys
One credit renders 30 seconds of 720p 30 fps video, or half as much at 1080p 60 fps. The same credits pay for API renders and for cloud renders in the Studio. Credits you buy expire 12 months after purchase.
Any account can buy credits. If your account has no paid Studio plan, the buy panel says your cloud renders will carry the ballengine.app watermark and asks you to tick that you understand before you pay.
Volume pricing
Credits are priced in bands. The band your order reaches sets the price of every credit in that order, so a bigger order is cheaper per credit. The base rate is $0.40 per credit and the best rate is $0.20 per credit, on orders of 1,500 credits or more.
Buying more is never more expensive than buying less. If a quantity just below a band edge would cost the same as the first quantity inside the next band, the panel offers you the larger quantity for the same money.
| Credits in one order | Price per credit | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 20 to 49 | $0.40 | 20 credits cost $8.00 |
| 50 to 199 | $0.35 | 50 credits cost $17.50 |
| 200 to 499 | $0.30 | 200 credits cost $60.00 |
| 500 to 1,499 | $0.25 | 500 credits cost $125.00 |
| 1,500 or more | $0.20 | 1,500 credits cost $300.00 |
Technical parameters
- Minimum purchase: 20 credits. Maximum in one order: 20,000 credits. Purchases are whole credits only.
- Prices are in US dollars. The price you see in the panel is the price you are charged.
How to buy
You can buy from the Credit balance section of /developer (press Buy credits), from the "Buy render credits" box on /developer if API access is not on yet, or from the Studio's plans window, which shows the same panel under the plans.
- 1Pick a quick amount (100, 500, 1,000, 2,500) or type your own number. The minus and plus buttons change it by 10.
- 2Check the price and the per-credit rate under the number. Press See volume pricing to open the band table; the band your order falls in is highlighted.
- 3If you see a Pay with choice, pick how you want to pay.
- 4Optional: tick "Keep my balance topped up automatically" to set up auto-recharge. See the Auto-Recharge article.
- 5Press Buy, finish the secure checkout, and you are sent back to where you started.
Tip
- Checkout is handled by our payment partner, and your receipt comes from them.
- Credit purchases are non-refundable. If something goes wrong with a payment, contact support at /support and we will help.
When your balance updates
After checkout, /developer shows "Payment received. Your credits are being added, this usually takes a few seconds." and checks your balance again every few seconds. If the credits still have not appeared after about half a minute, the message changes to ask you to contact support. Do that, and include the time of your purchase.
Plan credits and bought credits
Some plans include a monthly allowance of render credits for Studio cloud renders. That allowance is for the Studio only and expires with its month. The API spends only credits you bought, so the Credit balance on /developer shows bought credits only. Your full picture, including any plan allowance, is on the membership part of your account settings.
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